It’s unlikely anyone knew the impact this story would create in the cat world. Cat lover’s have turned against Lee Palmer, Lux’s owner, calling him every derogatory name imaginable after word came out Palmer had kicked Lux when Lux scratched his 7-month-old son. The reason for the attack most likely stems from the boy pulling the cat by the tail.

Between people offering advice on how to deal with a cat in the household with a young child, and those wanting Mr. Palmer punished (perhaps even tortured), Celebrity cat Jackson Galaxy has offered to speak on the cat’s behalf.

Although Galaxy hasn’t met Lux, or visited the home, he does have a lot of experience with aggressive cats. Galaxy is speaking out to defend Lux, who most likely went over the edge with the tail pulling incident. Palmer has made it clear that Lux has had a problem with violent episodes in the past. Perhaps he was only trying to explain his cats behavior, but that plan backfired when the complaints started coming in concerning the kick the cat episode Palmer used to get Lux away from his son. Take a look at some of Palmer’s Facebook post responses as people express their outrage. https://www.facebook.com/lee.palmer.75?fref=ts

Galaxy said in a phone interview that Lux really needs to see a vet. The famous cat wants Lux’s vet to rule out medical conditions that cause pain in the cat. Perhaps Mr. Palmer should read Jo Singer’s article on how to tell if your cat is in pain. Galaxy explains that anything could be going on medically, from an abscessed tooth to a brain tumor. Once a medical problem has been ruled out, the family needs to focus on any problems in the home that may have pushed Lux into cat insanity mode.

A lot of people have responded, both on news media articles as well as Palmer’s Facebook page, that Lux needs to be rehomed immediately. Palmer, at this time, wants to keep Lux because his family “loves” him. I won’t go into that one, because the actions taken and the word love are at odds in this case. Many, who commented on the story, have suggested that Jackson Galaxy should use Lux in an upcoming episode of his TV show ‘My Cat From Hell.’ Right now his main concern is finding out what went wrong. Jackson stated

“I want to know what it is that caused this to happen. At the end of the day, I don’t want this cat to die because of the viral nature of this story.”

The famous cat behaviorist is afraid the impact of the story will cause parents with young children, or who are expecting a baby, to dump their cat at the nearest shelter. It also isn’t good that Palmer is having to handle all of the publicity, fending off allegations of everything from child abuse to animal cruelty. It’s scary, mainly because of the lynch mob mentality of those who follow this type of story. It would likely be in the best interest for everyone if Palmer finds a calmer home for Lux. In the end, it isn’t the owner expressing love for their cat, it’s in doing what’s best for the cat in the long run. Sometimes the best option isn’t the easiest option to live with.

What do the readers here think of how this situation going viral, and the anger it’s created? Please leave a comment.

Comments

Jackson Galaxy defends cat who terrorized family — 30 Comments

Excellent, Galaxy has a following and is believed. Even the cat haters shut up when he speaks. Common sense dictates that the cat has to be checked out for pain which can cause aggression as we all know except the cat’s owner, and whether the environment he lives in and the care he receives is suitable.

I have strong sense that he was provoked and more importantly I sense he has been consistently provoked and perhaps kicked before on more than one occasion but I am guessing so let’s wait. I am sure the public will agree with me though.

We should not forget – as I previously stated – that the cat and baby should have been properly supervised. The parents appear to have failed in that task. If it is true that the baby pulled the cat’s tail this should not have happened. Look how it ended up.

This is a P.S. to my last comment. Jackson asks if Lux has a pain problem. A point worth making is that Mr Palmer we are told kicked Lux. How hard? Wouldn’t this cause pain and a defensive aggressive response? I think so. This sort of event has been reported on PoC before:

Bloody hell – poor Lux. They probably really had to provoke him in order to get it on film. That’s just awful. I really hope nothing bad happens to him. Poor thing. People are incredibly stupid sometimes. They actually think a cat shoud behave in a certain way. They seem to think the a cat should rationalize when being provoked and not fight back. This is impossible. Humans find it hard enough to do that. I don’t expect animals to.

Good point Marc. Cat owners and other people who do not understand cats tend to figure out cat behaviour based upon human behaviour. The cat simply reacts instinctively to being kicked or as described in the previous post a woman through some snow over her cat and he went ballistic, understandably in my opinion. I believe that this story is a tale of a lack of understanding of the psychology of the domestic cat and Jackson Galaxy is a person who understands the psychology of the domestic cat and thank God he has stepped in to put some sense into this story.

I think that poor cat has been abused before this came to light! The parents obviously have no control over the child if they let it pull the cat’s tail. Aggression breeds aggression, Palmer may have kicked the cat before, cats bruise easily and never forget. Seems to me the kid pulling Lux’s tail was the last straw and then being kicked tipped him right over the edge.

There’s so much wrong with the whole picture that I don’t even want to begin.
I think the replies from cat lovers said it all.
I think Ruth AKA is right. This cat has been abused before.
What kind of adults barricade themselves in a bedroom, fearful of a cat that’s not a lion or tiger or suffering from rabies?
What kind of caretaker can’t subdue their cat without calling police?
What kind of caretaker kicks a cat in the first place then claims they love them?

The reaction you describe is sensible and it appears to be the opposite to the way the owner’s of Lux are thinking. The focus should be on people initially. Cat behaviorists change the cat owner not the cat.

Glad to see this world still has a hope. I was tirelessly posting on the news web sites and responding to people’s comments about “I’d kill a cat who’d touch my child”. Ashamed with the owners’ being irresponsible, towards the cat and the child. And was upset with the News companies making a story of that without telling people to look at all details and to understand the reason why it all happened, which was, no surprise, a child pulled the cat’s tail. Glad to see this news turned from just a story somebody wanted to make viral into a story for everyone – think about reasons, understand the behaviour and make the environment safe for the whole family.

I’d kill the person who killed a cat who touched a child! Not quite that but I hate people who say that they would kill a cat who’d touch my child. Firstly it would nearly always be their cat so are they saying they’d kill their cat and secondly the reason why it would have happened it because of the person not managing their baby and cat properly. So these people are doing two things wrong. Ignorance comes to mind. There is a of it in the world.

Yes, people are quick to turn violent and carry their emotions into actions. It’s in humans nature – fight, flight or freeze. It takes an effort to stop, calm down and try to understand what’s going on to resolve the situation properly. I think we need more education on how to approach critical situations, how to communicate better and, more importantly, we need to teach and learn to respect.

Yes, totally agree. We need to respect people of different beliefs and (for me, more importantly) animals – all animals wild and domestic. A person doesn’t even have to like cats to respect cats and if you respect them you treat them decently.

Stick around Natalie. We’re a fun group. Sometimes the comments end up being nothing about the original topic. I love the comments just to see where they take everyone. Every now and then a new topic is born out of a comment. It’s fun to watch and be a part of.

Thank goodness Mr. Galaxy took over, as well he should have, given his fame and genuine expertise walking in to any household. I quietly hoped he would come forward. Makes us all feel good, I believe, as he’s got the ‘clout’ to make it happen. 🙂 Rehomed is exactly what we were hoping for.

Since all of you are so enamored with “Cat Daddy” and the Animal-Planet’s “My Cat From Hell” information. You might like to know just what kind of person that you are revering.

After “Cat Daddy”‘s appearance on the “Ellen” show late last year, what he does in life finally all made sense.

It is now clear why someone like him would put up with abusive animals that any sane person (one who is desiring and deserving of respect from other living things) would otherwise have those animals euthanized for their antisocial behavior. Just as anyone puts any antisocial dog to sleep if it can’t be trained to be around humans safely without having to change your own behavior or environment.

He proudly walked onto the stage of the “Ellen” show with a LARGE yellow handkerchief swinging out of his right-back pocket. A friend told me to look-up what that means in the decades-old “Gay Hanky Code”.

Your “Cat Daddy” is a man who desires to be the recipient of “Golden Showers” from other men.

No wonder he tolerates and even WANTS abuse and disrespect from other living things. He actually gets-off on it!

There’s that wonderful psychoses of yours showing itself again. Where on earth did you get “homophobic” from that? Guess who told me to look-up what your “Cat Daddy’s” proud hanky-flag meant? One of my gay friends told me. Your “Cat Daddy” just likes being the on the lowest-rung of abuse and disrespect, getting-off on it, by man or beast — and is now making a living out of it. Aren’t you all so proud of yourselves. LOL

Oh Woody you hate gays too do you as well as cats and cat lovers. Well let me tell you that everyone has the right to be who they want to be, I have gay friends and they are lovely men, worth a million times more than you will ever be because they are kind and tolerant and respect other peoples right to live and love as they choose.
How dare you talk about Jackson Galaxy that way, he’s a very clever and lovely man and you’ve gone too far this time, he has millions of admirers……you CAN be tracked down you know!
Why not do yourself a favour and stop your hatred and ranting, you are poisoning yourself from the inside out and wasting your time because no one here usually cares what you think about us, but starting on a public figure is just overstepping the boundary.

lol you must have nothing better to do than watch and wait to pounce on comments, well I have much better and useful things to do.
BTW our cats don’t go in other peoples ‘yards’ whatever they are, or their gardens, as you well know seeing as you’ve lurked plenty of times to try to mar previous articles I’ve written.
Some of us are very responsible cat caretakers!
Good bye Woody.

If you’d ever watched his show opposed to only one talk show where he happened to be at you would know that he wears different colored hankies in his back pocket more than half of the filming days (at least two per show). So, after paying more attention the last couple shows and looking up the hanky code he also likes to be a bondage top, top guy in love making, eat off other people, have his navel licked, is a hustler and is looking for a third guy to have a threesome with. So, either his sexual preferences are all over the place (and mostly dominant, so much for your theory) or he ignores the meaning of the hanky code and just sees it as a fashion statement. In other words: go eff yourself, because you sure don’t need a hanky for that.

If Lux had his own ca kingdom with walkways and beds suspended from the ceiling of that home (like Monty has) this never would have happened. Cats need to feel they own the space. Get him up above everybody and he’ll be more content, less aggressive. They don’t live that cat or they’d have thought of that a provided for his needs. If we could see into that house we would no doubt see that the cat has no access to height in any room– he’s probably even shooed off the furniture. A cat is not a stuffed animal, he’s a living creature with needs. Needs that are not bring met in this case.